Dems, GOP To Name New Local Party Heads

County Commissioner Eddie Jones presided over selection of delegates from District 85 at Shelby Democrats’ pre-convention caucus two weeks ago.

This coming weekend will see a changing of the guard for both local political parties.

The Shelby County Democrats will hold their biennial convention on Saturday, March 28, at First Baptist Church Broad, beginning at 10 a.m., with registration of the delegates who were selected from each state House of Representatives District in the party caucuses held at the same venue on March 14.

The Democrats will first elect an executive committee of 29 members. That’s down considerably from the 70-odd members the party could boast for the previous two years. That number corresponded to the party turnout for the 2012 presidential election; the new number is based on the number of those who voted in the 2014 gubernatorial primary, when the party nominee was an unknown quantity named Charlie Brown from East Tennessee.

Declared candidates for the Democratic chairmanship include Shelby County Commissioner Reginald Milton and activists Jackie Jackson, Randa Spears, and Del Gill. State Rep. Barbara Cooper may also have herself nominated, and there could be a surprise entry or two.

Whoever wins will succeed acting chairman David Cambron, who became chair last month when chairman Bryan Carson resigned amid questions about his financial accounting.

Shelby County Republicans will also be choosing a new chair for the next two years. Their convention will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 29, in the Bartlett Station Municipal Center banquet hall. The party caucuses, which selected delegates for the convention, were held in the same building last month.

Candidates for the GOP chairmanship are activists Mary Wagner and Arnold Weiner, who are scheduled to appear in an East Shelby Republican Club forum on Tuesday night, March 24, at Germantown’s Pickering Center.